Aurelio Bossi

Aurelio Bossi prices

Aurelio Bossi‘s small bronze sculptures generally sell for between €600 and €3,500, depending on the subject. Larger bronzes or those with subjects of particular interest, especially those made between the 1920s and 1930s, can fetch prices of between €4,000 and €7,000 or more.

The artist is also noted for his wooden sculptures — including pear, ebony and walnut — which, depending on the subject and size, are estimated to be worth between €700 and €2,500 on average, with the possibility of higher values for any large masterpieces.

Please note that these figures are indicative: the actual value of a sculpture depends on many factors, such as size, period of execution, material and subject. For a precise and personalised valuation of Aurelio Bossi’s works, you can request a free valuation service.

Biography

Aurelio Bossi, born in Monticelli Pavese in 1884, grew up in an environment linked to woodworking and from a very young age showed a natural predisposition for carving. He began his career as a framer and wood sculptor, acquiring a direct and profound knowledge of the material that would become the basis of his artistic language.

Driven by a desire to refine his training, he moved from Pavia to Milan to attend the Brera Academy, where he expanded his skills by also trying his hand at marble working and bronze casting. His craftsmanship, combined with academic discipline, allowed him to develop a balanced and controlled approach based on proportion and formal harmony.

The 1920s: pure formalism, between symbolism and plastic control

Shy by nature and far removed from fashion, Bossi built his career outside of schools or organised movements. His first participation in the Venice Biennale in 1914 marked his official entry into the national art scene with the sculpture La Croce (The Cross). After the interruption caused by the war, he resumed exhibiting with renewed enthusiasm, participating in the 1920 Biennale and holding a solo exhibition at the Galleria Pesaro, which summarised the artist’s poetics, aimed at combining tactile sensitivity and compositional rigour. In these two exhibitions, he displayed works such as La preghiera (The Prayer), Ofelia (Ophelia), Satirella, La vedova (The Widow), Atleta (Athlete) and Testa di contadino (Head of a Peasant), while at the Fiorentina Primaverile in 1922, he presented the enigmatic Attrice tragica (Tragic Actress) and Bambino che ride (Laughing Child), which testify to a synthesis between lyricism and rigour, between emotionality and plastic control.

His sculptures, whether nudes or figures of symbolist inspiration, are distinguished by an inner composure and an emotional tension that permeates the material. Over the years, Bossi evolved towards greater essentiality: surfaces were simplified, volumes enlarged, and forms charged with a sober spirituality. Wood, the sculptor’s favourite material, became his preferred medium for translating the inner vibration of his subjects.

The 1920s and 1930s marked the full maturity of Aurelio Bossi. In line with the climate of a return to order, his sculpture took on increasingly pure and solemn forms, enhancing the monumentality of the gesture and the constructive force of the mass. He participated continuously in the Venice Biennales from 1924 to 1932, presenting works such as Medusa, Davide, Il sogno della mamma (Mother’s Dream) and Primavera (Spring). He was also present at the Rome Quadriennale in 1931 with Il fanciullo profeta (The Child Prophet) and in 1935 with Italo.

His work is distinguished by its constant spiritual tension and the balance between plastic power and expressive delicacy. Some of his works are now housed in important institutions: the Pinacoteca di Brera and Milan Cathedral (where the figure of Cardinal Borromeo is kept), as well as the two busts created for the chapel of the Niguarda Hospital. Aurelio Bossi died in Milan in 1948, leaving behind a body of work that, while not extensive, was the result of research that, far from any clamour, was able to combine formal purity and inner spirituality.

Elena Lago